RIFers,
This is simply a huge working group in my experience and the telecons are
going to be a real challenge to manage. It is really quite critical that
EVERYONE try to do the best job they can adhering to a set of accepted
"good behaviors" while on the telecon.
1. MUTE YOUR PHONE when you are not talking. This is so important. Many
phones produce an echo, especially if you are using a speakerphone or a
(cheap) headset, and pick up a lot of extraneous sounds that you might not
even notice (breathing, typing, coughing, throat-clearing, moving your
coffee mug, children, colleagues, doors closing, etc. etc.) but when
combined with 50 other people on the call can cause interruptions, block
out the speaker, and makes it especially difficult to understand people
with different accents (I'm talking about the English, of course ;-)).
Note that in some cases, muting your phone with a mute button does not
clear up an echo, in which case you must use the Zakim mute feature (see
subsequent message).
2. understanding some of the basics of Zakim is incredibly helpful. Zakim
is an "agent" that sits on the IRC session and also monitors the
teleconferencing system. It reports people joining and leaving the
telecon, and can associate IRC nicknames with telecon ports. When there
is noise on the line, Zakim can help us identify the source, and if your
phone doesn't have a mute button (or even if it does), Zakim can handle
muting, and helps us to manage the speaking queue. But in order for this
to work properly, we have to know who is on each incoming phone line
(port). I will send out seperate instructions for using zakim, irc, and
the telecon. Full documentation of Zakim's commands are at:
http://www.w3.org/2001/12/zakim-irc-bot.html
3. Identify yourself when you speak. In many cases the chair will do this
when he recognizes a speaker, but it is best to start with "This is ...".
4. Do not talk on and on, do not repeat yourself. Do not give sermons. Do
not advertise. Several people in the group have already exhibited the
tendency to say the same thing over and over, in a slightly different way
each time. With such a large group and 90 minute telecons, we do not have
time for it. The chairs will become increasingly "agressive" about
cutting people off when we judge you are not adding new information. Note
that the point here is not to prevent people from speaking, but to make
the information flow more optimal. If you have said your "peice" and are
just restating it, you may be cut off. Occasionally our judgement may be
incorrect (i.e. someone listening may still not understand what was said),
in which case it will be fine to try restating your point. Don't be
offended or take it personally if you get cut off.
5. Use the IRC first. There are many simple things you may want to say
that is much more appropriately said on the IRC, the most common of which
is "I agree with ...". Try using the IRC for that instead (we are
watching it). The simple IRC notation for saying I agree is "+1". This
follows the previous point as well: in addition to not repeating yourself,
it is also good practice not to repeat what someone else said, just so
everyone knows you agree. As with other things, this is not hard and
fast, we must all use our best judgement. But you will start to hear us
challenge people, "are you adding something new here?".
6. If you are using a non-obvious IRC nickname (like your initials),
please be sure to let the scribe know who you are.
7. Watch the IRC session and, if you have spoken, check the scribe's
record of it and correct your name or what was captured.
This will be a learning process for many people, and I don't think even
the most experienced of us has dealt with a group this large before, so
bear with us. Things will smooth out as time goes on. Special thanks to
Jeremy for agreeing to scribe our first telecon and providing some
suggestions.
CC&S